By IANS
Kolkata : Second-seed Slovak Daniela Hantuchova and fourth-seed Russian Maria Kirilenko set up a high-voltage semi-final clash in the Sunfeast Open Saturday with easy victories over their opponents here Friday.
The other semi-final face-off is between Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine and Britain’s Anne Keothavong.
While Hantuchova beat Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-1, Maria
Kirlienko got past Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-1.
In the previous matches Koryttseva beat Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 6-4,
6-2, while Anne Keothavong upstaged Israel’s Tzipora Obziler 6-1, 6-3 in
another match.
The Hantuchova-Chan match began on an even note. Chan was the first assaulter, breaking Daniela in the third game with a double-handed backhand down the line. Daniela broke even in the sixth game with a trademark drop volley.
But Chan broke back again raising visions of another upset. But the seasoned pro knew a trick or two more than the rookie and showed why is she in the top 10 bracket. She broke her right back and held serve to take the lead first time in the match. Then in the 10th game she sent a couple of cross court stunners that sealed the set 6-4 in her favour.
In the second set Hantuchova got a measure of Chan. She broke Chan in the fourth and sixth games to seal the set 6-1.
After the match Daniela said, “In the first set I was out of sorts. But in the second I got back into the groove.”
Fourth seed Maria Kirlienko sailed into the semi-finals when she wiped off the challenge from Italian Flavia Pennetta. The only Russian to advance to the last-four stage, she defeated her opponent easily 6-3, 6-1.
She nullified Penetta’s baseline game by charging to the net often enough and the Italian had no answer to this strategy. She caved in and the match was almost gifted away when she double faulted in the seventh game of the second set, failing to hold her serve and losing the match.
Following the match, Kirilenko said, “I am playing good tennis over the week. I am feeling good. I am playing better with each match.”
Earlier, Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine beat Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 6-4,
6-2, while Anne Keothavong upstaged Israel’s Tzipora Obziler 6-1, 6-3.
In the first match, Poutchek could only break the Ukranian in the very first game but in game No.4, the girl from Harkov, Ukraine, unleashed her punishing forehand.
The World No.164 never looked back. She made it sure that Poutchek stays on the baseline and capitalised on her lack of movement to spring one forehand after the other. The talented Koryttseva, who packed off Bartoli-slayer Vania King Thursday, achieved breaks in the fourth, eighth and tenth games to clinch the first set 6-4.
Later, Poutchek admitted that she was not fully fit. “I have a medical problem. I found it difficult to serve under the lights and I was not moving well,” she said during the post match press conference.
Whatever resistance she had in the first set evaporated in the second as Koryttseva steamrolled her to achieve breaks in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth games to win in one hour and 33 minutes.
In the second quarterfinal match, Keothavong, who had beaten Obziler in their last meeting, had her gameplan chalked out. She knew the Israelite is a good mover and hence finished off the points by coming to the net despite being a baseliner.
She broke the 34-year-old in the third and sixth games to clinch the first set 6-1.
In the second, the ex-Israeli army woman tried to come back. Trouble is, Keothavong has a solid service game. She won 80 percent of the points on first serves and Obziler failed to achieve the crucial break.
Keothavong broke the veteran in the all-important second game and held her nerves under pressure to reach the last four.